RAMALLAH, West Bank, 23 December 2007 — The Palestinians will renew demands for a freeze on settlement growth in the West Bank and East Jerusalem at their next meeting with Israeli negotiators, a Palestinian official said yesterday.
“The next round of negotiations will take place on Monday and until now we are still waiting for a clear Israeli position regarding the freeze on settlements,” said Yasser Abed Rabbo, a member of the negotiating team.
Earlier this week Israel abandoned plans for a new settlement in the Atarot area of east Jerusalem, a decision which US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called a “good step” in the context of the newly revived peace talks.
But Israel is proceeding with an equally controversial settlement expansion in the Har Homa neighborhood of East Jerusalem, where it has invited bids on more than 300 new housing units.
In November, Israel and the Palestinians agreed to relaunch the Middle East peace process after a seven-year hiatus at an international conference in the US city of Annapolis. There the two sides agreed to proceed on the basis of the road map agreement, a 2003 blueprint for peace that requires Israel to freeze all settlement activity and the Palestinians to impose law and order in the territories. A first round of negotiations was held on Dec. 12, with the Palestinian focus on Jewish settlements.
Israel does not consider the Har Homa project to be a settlement because it lies within the municipal boundaries of Jerusalem, drawn up by Israel after it occupied and annexed the mostly Arab eastern half of the city in 1967.
But the international community has never recognized the annexation, and Palestinians have demanded that East Jerusalem be the capital of their future state. “We demand a freeze of settlements in all Palestinian lands, without exception, whether in the city of Jerusalem or in any other part of the West Bank,” Abed Rabbo said.
“What applies in the West Bank applies in Jerusalem, and all settlement activity is illegal and unacceptable.”
Hamas Drafting Terms for Truce
Hamas is drafting terms for a temporary cease-fire with Israel while trying to gain support from other Palestinian factions to accept it, Israeli media reported yesterday.
Israel Radio cited senior Hamas officials as saying the group is working toward a limited truce with Israel and is in talks with other armed Palestinian groups for their support.
Hamas first floated the idea of a truce in a phone call to an Israeli TV reporter Tuesday from Ismail Haniyeh, leader of the Hamas government in Gaza. The proposal was officially made Thursday though Egyptian mediators. Previous truces have been negotiated through Egyptian mediation, but none have held for long.
Hamas officials were not immediately available to comment on the Israel Radio report. A senior member of Islamic Jihad said there has been no discussion between his group and Hamas about a truce.
“We don’t think the priority should be talking about a truce,” said Islamic Jihad’s Nafez Azzam.
“Talking about a truce should be directed first to the part that continues the killing and airstrikes. Truce is not on the table now in light of the Israeli aggression.” Islamic Jihad is responsible for most of the rockets that have disrupted life in southern Israel. Palestinian militants continued to fire rockets at communities in southern Israel and the army has struck back hard, killing 20 Gaza fighters in airstrikes and ground operations in the past week.
At least three high-ranking Israeli officials said this week that they favor a conditional cease-fire with Hamas, if the group that controls Gaza halts rocket fire into Israel.
Israeli defense officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the topic, said Friday, without providing details, that the government was examining the Hamas offer.
However, Israel’s official position is that it will not talk to Hamas unless the group renounces all violence, recognizes Israel’s right to exist and accepts previous peace agreements. Yesterday, a senior defense official also said a truce with Hamas is not viable.
Amos Gilad, head of the political department at Israel’s Defense Ministry, said yesterday that Hamas has no real intention of honoring a truce, and is merely seeking a temporary cease-fire in order to regroup and rearm. Gilad said Israel will press ahead in its fight against militants as long as rocket fire persists.
“From time to time they offer a halt in operations when they have suffered a serious or significant blow,” Gilad told Israel Radio. “They have no intentions of a real truce,” he said.
Taher Nunu, a Hamas government official, said Gilad’s comments are “an attempt to escape the requirements of a truce that it has to live up to. This is a diplomatic rejection of any possible truce,” he said.
Zeev Boim, a Cabinet minister, echoed Gilad’s sentiments in an interview with Channel 1 TV.
“This is a honey trap, they need some breathing room, they are under a lot of pressure,” he said.
Ribhi Rantisi, a Hamas activist in Gaza, also spoke with Channel 1 via telephone from Gaza and had an informal chat with Boim in which he tried to convince the minister about Hamas’ truce intentions.
“We are interested in a cease-fire, we are not begging for it,” he said.
